Prep Focus: Wrestling Tangle

Prep Focus: Wrestling tangle

Duel Of Powerhouses Adds Flavor To Duals

Menchville, Poquoson To Meet Again At Last

POQUOSON — Combined, the wrestling programs at Poquoson and Menchville have won 29 district championships, nine regional titles and seven state championships in the past 15 years.

They've produced scores of "all-something" performers and sent dozens of graduates into collegiate wrestling. Each school has fiercely loyal fans and supportive administrations.

So why haven't they wrestled each other more than just once, in the first round of the 1981 Virginia Duals in the Hampton Coliseum? Menchville won that match 38-16.

"Because there's no advantage in wrestling them," said long-time Menchville coach Paul Pcsolinski. "I'd rather wrestle somebody else, somebody we might see in regional or state tournaments."

Maybe so, but tournament official Frank Lipoli thought it was about time the cross-Peninsula powers met again. So they will, at 9 p.m. Friday in one of the featured high school matches as the 11th annual Duals open their two-day stand in the Coliseum.

Said Pcsolinski: "I didn't have anything to do with the pairings. A committee did that. I'd prefer somebody else, but we'll wrestle anybody."

Second-year Poquoson coach Wayne Gibson didn't have anything to do with it, either. "We'd rather be wrestling Saturday night, during the meat of the tournament," he said. "But we won't be one of the stronger teams, so they gave us two matches Friday night.

"We didn't have any input. Frank did the all the high school scheduling. He picked and chose whoever he wanted." To Lipoli, the match was a natural. "Hey, it's about time they wrestled again," he said. "You've got two great programs on the Peninsula, so they should wrestle each other. "I feel just like Don King does when he gets a couple of heavyweights together."

John Graham, founder and director of the tournament, finds it an interesting coincidence that Menchville is willing to wrestle Poquoson when the Islanders are having a down year.

"Paul always said Menchville didn't have anything to gain by wrestling Poquoson," Graham said. "I guess it would have looked bad if Poquoson had beaten him."

You should know that Graham is not unbiased on the subject. A Poquoson native, he's a long-time supporter of Islander wrestling and father of two former PHS stars. Lipoli said Pcsolinski was "more than happy" to wrestle Poquoson. "He said it would be good for high school wrestling," Lipoli added. "He said it would be good for everybody."

While many view the Duals as a major event, Pcsolinski takes a more pragmatic approach. He uses it to compare Menchville's potential against traditional Southside powers such as Cox, Deep Creek and Great Bridge.

"The tournament lets us see where we are in relation to where we need to be," he said. "We watch other Eastern Region teams because we may have to wrestle them later on."

After beating Poquoson and Cox in 1981, Menchville skipped the Duals for three consecutive years. At his team's urging, Pcsolinski returned in 1986, and the Monarchs have been a fixture since.

"The kids asked to go back," he said. "They like to be around the college teams."

About that first Menchville vs. Poquoson match: the Monarchs won at 98 pounds, 105, 112, 119, 126, 138 and heavyweight. Poquoson won at 132, 145 and 185 pounds, and the teams drew at 155 and 167.

Some wrestlers then were Joe Zalamada, Steve Spivak, Mike Thomas and Darryl Fenner of Menchville; and Olen Evans, John Graham, Steve Green and Jay White of Poquoson.

Robert Check was 7 at the time. Today, he's a 119-pound Poquoson senior.

"Just being in the Coliseum again is a big deal for us," he said.

As for facing Menchville after all these years: "There's no rivalry. At least, not like it used to be," he said.

Gibson expects long-time Poquoson fans will remember this one. "We're pretty beat up and won't even send anybody out at 171 and 189," he said. "Menchville just might thump us pretty good."